Healthy Dry-Fried Bananas with Sesame & Honey
One of my fondest memories of one of my first Chinese meals is of course the classic (and now very 1970's!) fried banana with honey... how delicious! Everybody used to love to finish their meal off that way back then! My only problem with it was that it was one more fried item, with the coating of batter and then oceans of honey... which might sound great to you- but frankly, just does not fit into my picture of good food anymore... especially when I have other solutions!
I learned the basic idea for this tasty little treat from an old Thai work-mate of mine, many, many years ago... and have enjoyed making this ever since! It was a revelation at the time and so amazing to me in its simplicity, that it really started me thinking of reducing the fuss and the unnecessary work when preparing food... because no matter what it is that you are about to cook- there is always another way to do it!
I learned the basic idea for this tasty little treat from an old Thai work-mate of mine, many, many years ago... and have enjoyed making this ever since! It was a revelation at the time and so amazing to me in its simplicity, that it really started me thinking of reducing the fuss and the unnecessary work when preparing food... because no matter what it is that you are about to cook- there is always another way to do it!
You really couldn't get any simpler here! All you need to do is to peel you banana and cut it down the middle, and then cut it into thirds. There you go- you now have six, nice sections of banana that are slightly sticky and all ready to be ripped into sesame seeds. I sprinkled the sesame seeds with a little powdered ginger and cinnamon- just a hint- just to add a little depth to the banana flavor. The banana is of course a little delicate, so gently does it, but try to get all of the surfaces coated- and then pop the banana pieces into a dry non-stick pan at a moderate heat- not too high otherwise the sesame will start to scorch before the banana itself has a chance to start cooking. The great thing is that by heating the banana gently, the sesame seeds start to give off their own natural oils which help to get them nice and brown.
As the banana begins to warm up, it will change color and soften a little, and also to become moist and much sweeter. This is why you do not need to add much extra sweetness at all. So as soon as the bananas are nicely browned, you can serve them up nice and hot, with a scoop of ice cream maybe or as I did, with some fresh cream cheese. All it took was one teaspoon of honey and that took the banana over the edge and made it super delicious! Any more would be overkill in my opinion- try it- you will see it makes a nice change and is still as yummy as can be! Less sweet, much healthier and therefor just simply better! Don't feel guilty- get stuck in as they say! You will be glad you did!
As the banana begins to warm up, it will change color and soften a little, and also to become moist and much sweeter. This is why you do not need to add much extra sweetness at all. So as soon as the bananas are nicely browned, you can serve them up nice and hot, with a scoop of ice cream maybe or as I did, with some fresh cream cheese. All it took was one teaspoon of honey and that took the banana over the edge and made it super delicious! Any more would be overkill in my opinion- try it- you will see it makes a nice change and is still as yummy as can be! Less sweet, much healthier and therefor just simply better! Don't feel guilty- get stuck in as they say! You will be glad you did!
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